


give manifold color and change

by PaxDuane



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chalactan heritage Fetts, Force-Sensitive Boba Fett, Force-Sensitive Clones, Force-Sensitive Jango Fett, Gen, Good Parent Jango Fett, Jango Fett as a Jedi Shadow, Jedi Jango Fett, Jedi Shadow AU, Nonbinary Jango Fett, no order 66, palpatine fails
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26187313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaxDuane/pseuds/PaxDuane
Summary: Title from the poem Shadows by Thomas DurfeeAU where Jango Fett is actually a Jedi Shadow who has been stuck undercover for ten years out of a thirteen year assignment. Obi-Wan Kenobi provides an extraction.
Relationships: Boba Fett & Jango Fett, Jango Fett & Clone Troopers, Jango Fett & Jocasta Nu, Jango Fett & Obi-Wan Kenobi
Comments: 39
Kudos: 336
Collections: The_Newbie's Star Wars Fanfic





	give manifold color and change

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Icehothockey (ice_hot_13)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ice_hot_13/gifts), [crispyjenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crispyjenkins/gifts), [pallorsomnium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallorsomnium/gifts).



> SUP  
> I wrote this for the Messere, my Attie, and IceHot13. Original idea was screamed at CJ and Miya back on August 12th or somesuch. Wrote it up tonight. NOT BETA'D. Not even really edited... Oh well, this was a "for fun" project.

“I can’t find it in the Archive…” Obi-Wan says, trailing off by the suspicious look on Master Nu’s face.

“What did you say this planet’s name was, again?” she asks.

“Kamino.”

Master Nu squints at him. “My office, Knight Kenobi.”

Bemused, he trails after her like a duckling, following her into the office where she shuts the door.

“Have a biscuit, Knight Kenobi,” Master Nu says, handing him a tin of fancy baked goods.

He picks one primarily made of chocolate and dutifully nibbles on it as Master Nu turns away to dig through a cabinet of flimsi files.

She drops a thick one on her desk and nods to him.

He opens it and finds details of Kamino and the people on it, including confirmation of what Dex told him.

They’re cloners.

“Why isn’t this in the Archives?” he asks.

Master Nu scowls. “We found out a few years ago it had been deleted. I suspect your grandmaster did it before he officially left. All of this is what one of the Shadows, who ended up there ten years ago while on a mission, has gotten to us and what some of us have gathered from mentions in the other Archive properties and people who have been in those areas. Dex, who runs that diner a few of us like, is one of the informants who helped fill this out. But we know, thanks to that Shadow, it isn’t safe to be in the wider Archives again. Not yet.”

“So I could be blowing a Shadow’s cover by going in,” Obi-Wan concludes, pursing his lips.

Master Nu shakes her head and laces her fingers together. “No, Knight Kenobi. We’ve not had anyone able to extract them in the area until now, not without confirmation of the system’s make-up. They have been forced into a near blackout by the cloners and whoever came up with the contract they’ve been hired for. If we could have, we would have extracted them years ago.”

Obi-Wan takes a sharp breath. “They’re alone.”

“Not quite as alone as we might expect on another planet,” she admits, tapping the file again. “Let me talk to Master Windu—I think he’d like to see this particular Shadow home again. For now, bring the star map of the area to Master Yoda. He’s teaching a youngling class right now.”

“Master Nu?”

She gives him a steely look. “You do not tell the Temple when you are extracting a Shadow, Obi-Wan Kenobi, but without the Archive files there will be questions of where you went. Younglings tell tales.”

***

The clones that the Kaminoans show him look familiar in a way he can’t place but that tugs at something sad in his heart.

“I’d like to meet the Template,” Obi-Wan tells the Prime Minister. “We can coordinate further from there.”

“Of course. Taun We can show you.”

Taun We leads him to a collection of apartments, explaining that the few humans they see, all from a distance, are trainers.

And then the Template opens the door to their apartment and Obi-Wan feels his heart drop.

“Jango Fett,” Taun We says, “This is Jedi Master Kenobi.”

Jango’s eyes widen a fraction. “What can I do for the Jedi?” they ask, tone even and playing a deeper voice than Obi-Wan remembers from outside certain parts of tutoring and…a little hateful, or bitter.

“Just a few questions about the clones. You must be quite proud of them.”

Jango’s eyebrows raise, just slightly, as they roll up their shirt sleeves. “They’ll do their job.” They pause, glancing at the Kaminoan. “Taun We, if you see Boba could you send him this way?”

“Of course, Mister Fett.” The Kaminoan seems to take it as a friendly dismissal. Once she’s gone, Obi-Wan can’t hold himself back. He throws his arm around his old tutor.

“Master Nu told me to expect a Shadow, but… She didn’t tell me it was you!” Obi-Wan pulls back, taking in Jango’s startled expression.

“She told you I was here?” Disbelief and awe… Did they think the Jedi would leave him here?

“I’m your extraction, since there wasn’t a way for me to avoid the planet.”

They nod. “I’m guessing you’re here about the senator.”

“Was that you?” He lets Jango draw him further into the apartment and to the kitchen.

“Dooku hired me to get someone to fail to kill the senator and plant evidence that led to Kamino,” Jango explains, wrinkling their nose. “You’d really think he would have learned after being friends with Master for so long.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Obi-Wan tells them honestly. “I met him as he was leaving. But that makes much more sense than you failing to kill her. From what I remember, your cover is quite good and also adamant of what a good assassin you are.”

“Bounty hunter,” Jango gently corrects, amusement curling around them in the Force. It sours, though. “Dooku hired me for this too, sort of. Syfo-Dyas started me this way, the bastard, but Dooku did the actual hiring, threatened me to both do it and not run off, still assuming my cover. One of the only good things that came of it is I got to grow my hair back out.”

The older Jedi does have longer hair than when Obi-Wan had last seen them, tied back in a single braid instead of the traditional double braided loops. Their brow is free of the Marks of Illumination they wear in the Temple, too.

“Any others?” he asks.

Jango’s face breaks into a brilliant smile. “Oh, just a few million.”

“The clones,” Obi-Wan realizes.

“Not at first,” they add quickly. “Then I got Boba and the Alphas started growing up too fast and… They’re younglings, Obi. I’ve tried my best to teach all of them, hell only about eight percent are true nulls, and they’ve at least passed on enough that the Kaminoans and most of the trainers haven’t realized osik. Boba’s probably the closest to a true Padawan. He’s ten. The Alphas are the equivalent of twenty… Learning how to properly teach one hundred beings at a time is something that no one should rediscover.”

Obi-Wan winces at the number. “One is enough for me, thanks.”

“You have a Padawan? That skinny thing you were trailing after like you were picking shed clothes off the floor for him? I thought someone put you on new knight duty again. You’ve only been a knight, what, nine years?”

“Ten,” Obi-Wan corrects, his throat threatening to close off. “Qui-Gon was killed by a Sith on Naboo. Killing him was considered my trial, after that. I took Anakin on immediately, so he’d be taken care of.”

Confusion, concern, and righteous fury flicker across Jango’s face, but a call of “Dad” comes from the door that interrupts anything of what they might say.

A little bullet runs right up to Jango, happy when they pick the child up in a sweeping hug that makes Obi-Wan ache for the days when Ani was that little.

“Boba, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Jango says. “Obi-Wan, this is my--. This is my son, Boba.” They glance over to the hall as the door shuts with a click.

“Hi,” Boba says, smiling.

“You! You were this cute as a youngling?” Obi-Wan tells Jango, grinning. “I don’t believe it.”

Jango smiles. “Obi-Wan is one of the brats I tutored at the Temple. He’s here to bring us back…” They pause. “We need to figure something out for the others, too, but I need to get the data I have to the Temple before things spiral any further. When no one shows up on Geonosis, Dooku is going to get suspicious.”

Obi-Wan nods a bit. “We need to take more than just you two, though.”

“Alpha and Niner and Ixxy,” Boba suggests with the confidence of a properly raised Padawan. It makes Obi-Wan’s smile sweeten.

“Well, I should get suited up. Get your brothers, then Obi-Wan and I will get the ship situation figured out.”

Boba darts off.

“You’re going to wear your armor?” Obi-Wan asks. “And I was allowed to bring a ship with plenty of room. More than I thought I’d need, really, but I see now it was prudent thinking.”

Jango glances at Obi-Wan. “Best to leave and arrive with the right look. I’ve got other clothes. The Slave I--.” Their lips curl uncomfortable around the name of their cover’s recognized ship. “Well, it’s about time it got retired.”

***

Alpha (properly Alpha-17, which makes Obi-Wan bristle) is a gruff young man who is probably the closest in personality to Jango’s cover personality. Niner (Alpha-09) has the dry sarcasm that Obi-Wan rarely heard from Jango growing up, instead being more like Master Windu’s sense of humor. Ixxy (Alpha-66) is much more the cheerful malice that Jango tended to exude when dealing with the younger, usually screeching, pranksters at the Temple, but with an added healer’s bite.

Alpha takes point, less out of personality and more because his attending brothers don’t want to. Niner seems to be treating that fact as a vacation, which Jango amusingly alerts Obi-Wan is because he trains some of the youngest groups of clones on Kamino while Alpha gets to handle the aging up CCs, but still pays exacting attention. Ixxy is, sure enough, a medic. One of ten in the 100 Alphas.

Obi-Wan doesn’t admit that he’s avoiding Ixxy for a full day, until Jango confronts him and then, after learning why, curses that they can’t kill Qui-Gon themself.

Obi-Wan has less than five seconds of that conversation before submitting himself to Ixxy’s tender mercies.

They spend the two cycles between Kamino and Coruscant prepping the data Jango has, talking through what some of it might mean, and evaluating the three alphas’ education to figure out who Jango will pawn them off on to finish a remarkably solid Padawan education once they get to the Temple.

“They’re going to make you a Master before you even step into the Temple,” Obi-Wan teases Jango before being shoved off to teach all four clones how to meditate like a Temple youngling and not someone dragged in by a Shadow or a Watchman.

***

Obi-Wan gets off the ship first to judge their audience. The entire Council, and Sar Labooda, have amassed. His Padawan got his message, as he’s here too, but he’s brought Senator Amidala…and the Chancellor.

Considering what Jango found on Kamino, Obi-Wan would rather Palpatine wasn’t here. Though, with everyone else around and a few hundred unexpected reveals about to smack him in the face, Obi-Wan is kind of looking forward to seeing his reaction.

“Knight Kenobi,” Master Billaba greets warmly. “I’ve been led to understand you’ve found something we’ve been searching for.”

Obi-Wan smiles. Between Master Billaba, Master Ti, and Knight Labooda, Jango is not going to get a moment of rest for the next tenday. “Is Master Nu coming?” he asks.

“She’ll be here in a moment,” Master Windu says. Then, pitching his voice to carry, “I’m sure that what you found can wait until then.”

Obi-Wan barely hears Boba and Ixxy’s childish giggles before they’re smothered.

Master Nu arrives with a couple healers tagging along, looking amused and determined all at once. No, Jango will not be seeing any rest this month. She bursts ahead, though, meeting Jango as he comes down the ramp.

Jango sweeps their helmet off to greet their former Master with a Keldabe Kiss and a grin. “Master,” they greet, joy filling the Force.

Labooda is the next to jolt away from the fray with a shriek of joy at the reappearance of her cousin-twin (a title which will never make sense to Obi-Wan).

Mace steps forward next, though he nods to the Chancellor as he says, “Kenobi found a somewhat purposefully lost Jedi.”

Palpatine’s brow twitches up.

Anakin, though is fuming. “But, he has the same armor as the bounty hunter who--!”

“Calm, Anakin,” Obi-Wan says, sending a soothing chastisement towards his padawan. “They’re the same bounty hunter, but they _are_ a friend.”

“Master Jannat Vhett has been undercover for quite a while,” Master Windu continues. “We did actually lose track of them, when they were captured, but their cover was maintained and it wasn’t safe to extract them until Kenobi went that way.”

Jango, obviously freaked out as their other cousins join their Master in coddling him, calls out, “ _Boys_.”

Boba is first down the ramp, followed by Ixxy more sedately and Alpha and Niner more hesitantly.

Labooda lets out another shriek. “They’re mini _you’s_ ,” she coos, accosting Alpha like the doting auntie she’s probably determined to be. “Hello there,” she says cheerfully. Alpha takes it, surprisingly, quite well.

Billaba takes Niner while Ti scoops Boba up and is joined in admiration by Master Nu.

Jango takes a deep breath and glances in panic at Master Windu. “ _Help_.”

Master Windu shakes his head, amusement apparent in the Force. He’s leaving Jango to the wolves. “We’ll debrief when you’ve all got a clean bill of health. Though I think you might have to fight your cousins for the little one’s proper padawanship.”

Jango makes an outraged noise, aghast. It’s very clearly played up, Obi-Wan realizes. All of them are playing it up, even Master Windu.

Of course they are. Jango tutored him in acting, though, which is the only reason Obi-Wan actually notices it.

“Well, the Senate looks forward to hearing about it,” Palpatine says, looking sour. “I don’t believe I know the mission. Aren’t those usually signed off by the Chancellor’s office?” It’s a dig, one aimed at trying to discredit the Council or gaining simpering attempts at smoothing over the gaff.

“Signed off, it was,” Master Yoda says slowly, glancing at Palpatine with a suspicious look, “By Chancellor Valorum’s office. Thirteen years ago, it was. Not the only Chancellor in young Jannat’s career, you are.”

Palpatine flees without a goodbye to anyone but Anakin.

Senator Amidala, after all, is striding forward to Jango. “Master Fett—er, Vhett.” She isn’t used to having to correct herself, and it unseats her usual confidence for a moment. “I wanted to thank you for making sure the assassin sent after me would fail so easily. It speaks to your continued dedication to being a Jedi.”

Jango flashes white teeth at Amidala. They know as well as Obi-Wan that she’s making assumptions based on her information, that she doesn’t know that they were hired to do just that. But Obi-Wan can tell that Jango is delighted and charmed.

Obi-Wan suspects Amidala has been mentally adopted; a Mando can’t have enough kids even clocking in at over a million.

“Nice to meet you, Senator,” Jango says, extending their arm and clasping her wrist when she does the same.

“Anakin, get over here,” Obi-Wan calls. “Jango was my tutor when I was a bit younger than you. You’ll like him, I promise!”

**Author's Note:**

> NOTES! Because I'm not a total asshole.
> 
> First off--Yes this results in Palpatine failing before the war even starts and getting d r a g g e d by the Senate for setting all of this up and providing money to the Separatists as they later find. There are still some skirmishes that the clones help with! But then they're brought into the Jedi Order. Some go to the Corps, but all of them get at least some training. It helps revitalize the Order.
> 
> Now, from the mess I sent CJ and Miya: 
> 
> the mission was originally to figure out wtf these cloners were up to, And then he ran into Sifo-Dyas on the outs and Sifo was like, “Hey they want a Jedi to clone for this thing. It’s an in but I’ll tell them you’re a normal bounty hunter?” And Jango’s kinda sus but goes along. He realizes after a bit what’s going on but it’s after he’s got Boba and he’s met some of the Alphas and “they have little personalities!!! It’s like the crèche only they all look like me which is 👀 💦 " So he’s kind held hostage
> 
> But like Dooku-as-Tyranus doesn’t recognize him bc his identity as full on Jango Fett isn’t quite the same as Jedi Knight Jannat “Jango” Vhett (he cut his hair for this cover). Dooku’s kind of a dumbass in this one. Jocasta makes sure all the shadows’ backstories can pass the Dooku-arrogant-dumbass test. Like, he first heard of Jango Fett, Mandalorian, because Jocasta was testing out the backstory of this kid who was obviously her padawan. JANGO IS LITERALLY THE NICKNAME EVERYONE IN THE TEMPLE USES FOR HIM.
> 
> Obi-Wan calling Anakin back cut the Panakin courtship short and now Anakin has to deal with Jango side-eyeing him about anything further.
> 
> Jango ofc got as much as he could from the Kaminoans including the chips
> 
> And like. Jaster was still kind of Jango’s buir, because Mando culture. And I’m gonna say this is another Jaster/Mace
> 
> Oh also he 10/10 helped Tholme train Quinlan Vos


End file.
